# Military Science Fiction Recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230 "2012-01-11T23:47:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/21 "2012-01-12T16:17:05Z")
“Weapons of Choice” by John Birmingham was a fun read. It’s the first in a trilogy where a 2020 naval battlefleet gets transported back to around Midway during WWII. It shows how the world adjusts to not only their military technology but also their social views. E.g. It is a lot easier for men to find “down-time” wives than for the women to find husbands. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/22 "2012-01-12T16:26:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Then go pick up just about all of [John Ringo’s](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3AJohn+Ringo&keywords=John+Ringo&ie=UTF8&qid=1326335556&sr=8-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B000APPSXE)stuff. After that, maybe some Alan Cole/Chris Bunch ([Sten series](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3AJohn+Ringo&keywords=John+Ringo&ie=UTF8&qid=1326335556&sr=8-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B000APPSXE#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=sten&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Asten)). I was going to recommend Ringo as well, but the OP specifically excluded aliens. That leaves out the entire _Legacy of the Aldenata_ series (and it’s spin-off _Cally’s War_ series), his _Empire of Man_ series, and his _Troy Rising_ series, as well as his _Looking Glass_ co-series with Travis Taylor. That’s the bulk of his catalog. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/23 "2012-01-12T16:39:17Z")
“Armor” by John Steakley, it’s not a series and never will be ☹ It’s in the Bug-War vein but definitely a good read. IMNSHO ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/24 "2012-01-12T17:23:32Z")
I enjoy the StarFist series quite a bit. David Sherman and Dan Cragg. No aliens at all until about halfway through the series. > **[StarFist series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarFist_series)** > > StarFist is a series of military science fiction novels written by David Sherman and Dan Cragg. The novels are set in the 25th century and are written from the viewpoint of the men of the Confederation of Human Worlds Marine Corps 34th FIST (Fleet Initial Strike Team). An additional spin-off series, titled StarFist: Force Recon, by the same authors was started in 2005 with the publication of Backshot. > Dan Cragg was a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, serving for twenty-two ye... ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/25 "2012-01-12T17:29:56Z")
The [Last Legion](http://www.sfsite.com/04a/last54.htm) books (4 of them) really only have one major alien race, and they only feature heavily in the second book. ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/26 "2012-01-13T00:25:46Z")
Wow, so many suggestions! Thank you, all. I’m going to have fun reading all these. > [@bldysabba](#): > > Ender’s game? Most people would have already read it of course, but if Starship troopers is being recommended, I figured Ender should be 🙂 Yes, I’ve definitely read, and enjoyed, OSC’s books (even if I don’t like his politics). I probably should’ve mentioned him. Modesitt, too, for that matter. > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > What have you got against the OP, that you would recommend Stasheff to him/her? > > I assume that the OP has read Elizabeth Moon’s _Deed of Paksennarion_ trilogy, as well as her military SF. There’s the trilogy, the Gird duology, and now Moon has released at least two more books in that series. I never could get into Moon’s SF, but I love her fantasy. Him, please. I actually think I tried Stasheff’s _A Wizard in Rhyme_ series a while ago and couldn’t get into it. But I’ll check out this other series, **Reepicheep**. And yes to Moon’s fantasy works. Started with those! > [@muldoonthief](#): > > Or you could just combine the two suggestions above and go straight to David Drake. His “Hammers Slammers” books and stories are excellent. Incredibly vivid and realistic combat scenes. I looked into this series before but couldn’t figure out the best place to start so I just moved on to another author - I tend to not like short stories so much. Suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/27 "2012-01-13T00:29:30Z")
Get the [Complete Hammer’s Slammers Vol. 1](http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Hammers-Slammers-1/dp/189238969X) and go from there. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/28 "2012-01-13T02:28:56Z")
No one has yet mentioned John Hemry. He has 4 JAG in space books: 1- A Just Determination; 2 - Burden of Proof; 3 - Rule of Evidence; 4 - Against All Enemies. All are set when we are just getting into space, these are all hard s/f. His other sereis is Stark – Stark’s War; Stark’s Command; Stark’s Crusade. I did not like these as much as the JAG in space books, but some of my friends rave over them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/29 "2012-01-13T03:20:24Z")
> [@justrob](#): > > Let me recommend the Bolo series by Keith Laumer. Intelligent tanks, oh yeah. I like those stories; I have several of the _The Honor of the Regiment_ short story collections, and Keith Laumer’s original _Bolo!_ collection. The OP also said he/she likes Weber, and Weber has written several good Bolo stories. I haven’t read it, but have heard that _Road to Damascus_ is best avoided. Also, that William H Keith’s Bolo stories have continuity problems with those by other authors. Note; at [Thefifthimperium.com](http://Thefifthimperium.com) you can get a free & legal e-copy of Weber’s _Bolo_ (some Weber written Bolo short stories) and _Old Soldiers_ [here](http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/22-MissionofHonorCD/MissionofHonorCD/) from the Mission of Honor CD image. Weber and some other Baen authors offer these CDs with permission to copy. I believe it’s basically the crack cocaine “first one’s free” marketing model. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/30 "2012-01-13T04:09:16Z")
I enjoyed Mars by Ben Bova. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/31 "2012-01-13T05:04:16Z")
> [@Reepicheep](#): > > No one has yet mentioned John Hemry. He has 4 JAG in space books: 1- A Just Determination; 2 - Burden of Proof; 3 - Rule of Evidence; 4 - Against All Enemies. > All are set when we are just getting into space, these are all hard s/f. > > His other sereis is Stark – Stark’s War; Stark’s Command; Stark’s Crusade. I did not like these as much as the JAG in space books, but some of my friends rave over them. > [@FlyByNight512](#): > > “The Lost Fleet” series by Jack Campbell features a fleet of starships trying to limp back home after being defeated and stranded deep in enemy territory. If you enjoy the political side of military command and exploring ways that starship combat could realistically work, it’s good fun. It’s mostly all humans vs humans, although aliens do eventually come into one of the subplots. These are the same author. The Stark series was his first work, then JAG in Space. His writing improved a great deal IMO in the second. But his sales were not good enough to keep the JAG books going (He had an idea for at least one more) so he fooled the computers by using the Campbell pen name and had a hit with the Lost Fleet series. Enough so that he has started a sequel series to it, where the human race is starting to have to deal with the aliens that showed in the first series. The Stark books I am meh about, but his later books are well worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/32 "2012-01-13T09:19:15Z")
**Lok** thank you very much. I didn’t have any idea he was writting as John Campbell. I’ve ordered the first two books of the Lost Fleet - which I can see is getting great reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/33 "2012-01-13T17:31:09Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I have, but have yet to read, [The Forever War.](http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-ebook/dp/B005BVM9YI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326338628&sr=1-1) > > I hear it’s supposed to be pretty good. The Forever War is considered a classic of Science Fiction period. A Hugo and Nebula winner. More than 20 years ago now I saw Joe Haldeman at a book reading. Afterwards he talked about his writing including this one. He mentioned that for an action or military book it has very little graphic action or violence. I went back and reread it and he was right. Didn’t really notice it at the time. He is not very descriptive in writing about the violence during the battles (thats not really what the book is about anyway). He explained that he wrote it just a few years after he returned from Viet Nam and he still felt uncomfortable writing about graphic violence. One of my favorite military science fiction authors was Rick Shelley. Don’t know how easy it would be to find his books. I think I still have them somewhere. He died very young about 10 years ago. IIRC he also came from an actual military background. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/34 "2012-01-13T17:35:57Z")
[\*\*The Gone-Away World \*\*by Nick Harkaway](http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Away-World-Nick-Harkaway/dp/0307268861): Catch-22 meets science fiction, long tangents but all-in-all just solid writing. Great ending. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/35 "2012-01-13T20:48:59Z")
> [@HardlySanguine](#): > > I looked into this series before but couldn’t figure out the best place to start so I just moved on to another author - I tend to not like short stories so much. Suggestions? > [@silenus](#): > > Get the [Complete Hammer’s Slammers Vol. 1](http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Hammers-Slammers-1/dp/189238969X) and go from there. Yeah, do this. The problem is that they’ve re-anthologized the Slammers stories multiple times, so there’s lots of various editions floating around with lots of overlap. So just start with Vol 1 & move on. If you want to see how you like it first though, one of the earlier collections is in the Baen free library [here](http://www.baenebooks.com/p-624-the-tank-lords.aspx). Make sure to read his notes too - a lot of Drake’s stories are based on true events from history and his own life. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/36 "2012-01-13T22:33:54Z")
Ummmmm…guys? I think we need to start drinking heavily. This is post #36 and nobody has mentioned Honor Harrington yet. 😕:eek:⭕smack: Start with _On Basilisk Station_ and prepare for a ride. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/37 "2012-01-14T00:14:00Z")
The **OP** mentioned David Weber by name. Are you sure you haven’t already started drinking heavily? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/38 "2012-01-14T00:46:02Z")
By name doesn’t mean anything, _especially_ somebody like Weber. What books of his has the OP read? We have no idea. But the dude has what, 50+ books out as of this minute? Has the OP read the Honorverse, or the Empire of Man verse, or the Multiverse, or the War God series, or…? We need more information, dammit! We’re anonymous idiots on the Web, not mind-readers! And I have **always** started drinking heavily. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/39 "2012-01-14T01:07:39Z")
Joel Rosenberg’s Metzadan Mercenary Corps books were damn good. Rick Shelley’s Dirigent Corps books features future war from a ground-pounder’s point of view. The books follow the main character from his induction as an officer cadet through all his promotions. ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230/40 "2012-01-14T04:00:20Z")
Yeah, I’ve read the Honor Harrington books. The author (well, narrator, technically, I guess) really likes to talk. You can tell he’s done a ton of background work on his universe and all the characters. Sometimes he doesn’t seem to know when those things should stay background. But I like them fine. I’ve started Lost Fleet series and am enjoying it so far! Keep the suggestions coming, if you’ve got more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-science-fiction-recommendations/609230.md?page=3)